Apparatus and methods for providing a communication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication path

ABSTRACT

The apparatus and methods described herein are used to provide a communication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication path between an application transmitter and an application receiver. One method includes transmitting data from the application transmitter to the application receiver via the end-to-end communication path, the end-to-end communication path having at least one wireless link with a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver, generating, at the wireless transmitter, a first communication quality feedback message, and transmitting the first communication quality feedback message from the wireless transmitter to the application transmitter in a standardized format.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

The invention relates to wireless communications. More particularly, theinvention relates to apparatus and methods for providing a communicationquality feedback of an end-to-end communication path.

2. Background

FIG. 1 is a simplified prior art system 100 showing protocol stacks fora transmitter 101 and a receiver 106. The two protocol stacks are basedon the Open System Interconnection (OSI) Reference Model. The twoprotocol stacks are simplified examples for the transmitter 101 and thereceiver 106. The simplified protocol stack for the transmitter 101(listed top-down) includes an application layer 102, a transport layer103, a data link layer 104, and a physical layer 105. The simplifiedprotocol stack for the receiver 106 (listed top-down) includes anapplication layer 107, a transport layer 108, a data link layer 109, anda physical layer 110. The two physical layers 105 and 110 are connectedto a wired-wireless network 113 and are configured to deliver (both insingle-cast and multi-cast) streaming and real-time multimedia data.

The physical layers 105 and 110 include a set of rules that specifiesthe electrical and physical connection between the transmitter 101 andthe receiver 106. At the device interfaces, the physical layers 105 and110 specify the procedure for a correct transfer of data on slots, forexample, TDMA/FDMA, encryption, interleaving, channel coding, FEC, andthe reverse functions.

The data link layers 104 and 109 indicate how the transmitter 101 andthe receiver 106 gains access to the medium specified in the physicallayers 105 and 110. The data link layers 104 and 109 also define dataformats, to include the framing of data within transmitted messages,error control procedures and other link control activities. Fromdefining data formats to including procedures to correct transmissionerrors, the data link layers 104 and 109 are responsible for thereliable delivery of information. The data link layers 104 and 109 maybe divided into two sublayers: a Logical Link Control (LLC) and a MediaAccess Control (MAC).

The transport layers 103 and 108 include an end-to-end real-timetransport protocol (RTP)/real-time control protocol (RTCP) for providingstandardized real-time feedback from the receiver 106 to the transmitter101. One or more channels 111 and 112 may be used to transmit thecontrol information. Both the RTP and the RTCP convey media data flowsover a transmission control protocol (TCP) or a user datagram protocol(UDP). The RTP carries data with real-time requirements while the RTCPconveys information of the participants and monitors the quality of theRTP session. The transport layers 103 and 108 are responsible forguaranteeing that the transfer of information occurs correctly after aroute has been established through the network 113. The transport layers103 and 108 are used for error control, sequence checking, and otherend-to-end data reliability factors.

The application layers 102 and 107 act as a window through which theapplications gain access to all of the services provided by theunderling protocols.

Data links in wireless networks by nature experience large variations inshort term data rates due to changing channel and interferenceconditions. In packet networks supporting bursty data, network loadingcan also change rapidly. For many applications, buffering can be used toaverage out these variations. Slower rate adaptation can then be used,in conjunction with the buffering, to track out longer term changes inthe channel rate.

However, buffering leads to delays which may not be permissible incertain interactive applications. That is, with tight delay constraints,short term drops in data rates results in dropped packets. In thesecases, it is useful for the application to have fast feedback of thedata communication losses so that the application can rapidly adjust tothe lower rate and compensate for losses appropriately.

Two examples where such fast feedback is useful is (1) interactive ordelay-sensitive video and (2) multi-player gaming video. Video can oftenbe transmitted with a large range in quality by changing the spatial,temporal or pixel resolution. Feedback on the instantaneously channelrate can be used to adapt the video quality appropriately. Also, highlycompressed video is typically transmitted with predictive coding toexploit temporal correlations. In predictive coding, frames at any onetime instant are referenced against previous video frames. As a result,losses of video frames can propagate to several future frames until thenext synchronization or intra-frame. Hence, fast feedback is useful todetect these losses quickly to reduce the error propagation.

In multi-player gaming video, communication losses result in statedisconnect between different players. For example, the first player canthink he has fired while the second player does not know he has beenshot. In this example, fast detection of losses is needed to minimizethe time delay in the discrepancies between the different player states.

As illustrated in the above examples, wireless channels can beunreliable and prone to errors and the end-to-end feedback from thewireless channel losses can be used at the application layers 102 and107. The communication protocols (such as RTP and RTCP) of the transportlayers 103 and 108 provide the end-to-end feedback from the receiver 106to the transmitter 101 and vice versa. RTCP packets contain directinformation for quality of service (QoS) monitoring and congestioncontrol of wireless channels. For example, sender reports (SR) andreceiver reports (RR) exchange information on packet loss, jitter, andround-trip delay statistics of wireless channels. The transmitting endapplications deliver SR to the receiving end applications and thereceiving end applications deliver RR to the transmitting endapplications.

The end-to-end feedback can be used by the transmitter 101 to adapt itschannel rate to adjust to the channel errors. Also, the end-to-endfeedback can be conducted completely at the transport layers 103 and 108so the physical layers 105 and 110 are transparent to the applications.However, the end-to-end feedback has several drawbacks. First, theend-to-end feedback has the cost of the round-trip end-to-end delay.Second, in wireless links, the end-to-end feedback consumes air-linkresources, thus limiting the frequency of the feedback. Third, thereceiver 106 might not be capable of generating and/or transmitting thefeedback.

Therefore, it has been recognized by those skilled in the art that aneed exists for apparatus and methods for providing a communicationquality feedback of an end-to-end communication path between anapplication transmitter and an application receiver.

SUMMARY

The apparatus and methods described herein are used to delivermultimedia content or data over a communication path involving awireless link. The apparatus and methods are used to reduce the feedbackdelay, reduce or avoid consumption of air-link resources, and generatefeedback when the receiver does not generate and/or transmit feedback.

The apparatus and methods described herein are used to provide acommunication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication pathbetween an application transmitter and an application receiver. Onemethod includes transmitting data from the application transmitter tothe application receiver via the end-to-end communication path, theend-to-end communication path having at least one wireless link with awireless transmitter and a wireless receiver, generating, at thewireless transmitter, a first communication quality feedback message,and transmitting the first communication quality feedback message fromthe wireless transmitter to the application transmitter in astandardized format.

An apparatus for providing a communication quality feedback of anend-to-end communication path to an application receiver. The apparatusincludes an application transmitter for transmitting data to theapplication receiver via the end-to-end communication path, theend-to-end communication path having at least one wireless link with awireless transmitter and a wireless receiver, the wireless transmitterconfigured to generate a first communication quality feedback messageand transmit the first communication quality feedback message from thewireless transmitter to the application transmitter in a standardizedformat.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features, objects, and advantages of the invention will become moreapparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken inconjunction with the drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a simplified prior art system showing protocol stacks for atransmitter and a receiver.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary node in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a system having an applicationtransmitter, a wireless transmitter, a wired and/or wireless network, awireless receiver, and an application receiver in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing acommunication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication pathbetween the application transmitter and the application receiver inaccordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for theapparatus and the means for apparatus for providing a communicationquality feedback of an end-to-end communication path between theapplication transmitter and the application receiver in accordance withvarious embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods, apparatus, and systems that implement the embodiments of thevarious features of the invention will now be described with referenceto the drawings. The drawings and the associated descriptions areprovided to illustrate embodiments of the invention and not to limit thescope of the invention. Reference in the specification to “oneembodiment” or “an embodiment” is intended to indicate that a particularfeature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least an embodiment of the invention. Theappearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” or “an embodiment” invarious places in the specification are not necessarily all referring tothe same embodiment. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers arere-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary node 200 (e.g., a wirelessdevice) in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless device 200is configured to receive and transmit signals and data in or using thelicensed spectrum and/or the unlicensed spectrum. The data may becontrol data, multimedia data, voice data, video data, picture data,streaming or still video data, web page data, and other types of data.The wireless device 200 may include a processor 205, a memory 210, amodem 214, a display or a touch screen 215, a keyboard 220, a wirelesstransmitter 225, a wireless receiver 230, a first antenna 235, a secondantenna 240, and a power source 245 (e.g., a battery). The wirelesstransmitter 225 and/or the wireless receiver 230 may be used to generatethe RTCP feedback. The chips, components or modules may be attached orformed on a printed circuit board 250. The printed circuit board 250 canrefer to any dielectric substrate, ceramic substrate, or other circuitcarrying structure for carrying signal circuits and electroniccomponents within the wireless device 200.

The processor 205 may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware,middleware, microcode, or any combination thereof. The processor 205 maybe an Advanced RISC Machine (ARM), a controller, a digital signalprocessor (DSP), a microprocessor, an encoder, a decoder, circuitry, aprocessor chip, or any other device capable of generating and processingdata, and combinations thereof. The processor 205 may be used togenerate the RTCP feedback. The term “circuitry” may include processorcircuitry, memory circuitry, RF transceiver circuitry, power circuitry,video circuitry, audio circuitry, keyboard circuitry, and displaycircuitry.

The memory 210 may include or store various routines and data. The term“memory” and “machine readable medium” include, but are not limited to,random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), EPROM,EEPROM, registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, DVD, wirelesschannels, and various other mediums capable of storing, containing orcarrying instruction(s) and/or data. The machine readable instructionsmay be stored in the memory 210 and may be executed by the processor 205to cause the processor 205 to perform various functions as described inthis disclosure.

The modem 214 may be implemented using software, hardware, circuitry,and combinations thereof. The modem 214 may be a wireless modem withRTCP proxy and may be used to generate the proxied RTCP feedback. Thedisplay 215 may be a LCD, LED, plasma display screen or a touch screenand the keyboard 220 may be a standard keyboard (e.g., a QWERTY layout)having letters and numbers. The keyboard 220 may be implemented on orusing the touch screen.

The wireless transmitter 225 is coupled to the processor 205 and is usedto encode and format the data for transmission via the first antenna 235and/or the second antenna 240. The wireless transmitter 225 includeschips, circuitry and/or software that are used to transmit the dataand/or signals that are received from the processor 205 to the firstantenna 235 and/or the second antenna 240 for transmission over one ormore channels.

The wireless receiver 230 is coupled to the processor 205 and is used todecode and parse the data after being received from the first antenna235 and/or the second antenna 240. The wireless receiver 230 includeschips, circuitry and/or software that are used to receive the dataand/or signals from the first antenna 235 and/or the second antenna 240.The data and/or signals are sent to the processor 205 for calculationand/or use by the processor 205.

The first antenna 235 may be positioned at a lower right portion of thewireless device 200 and the second antenna 240 may be positioned at anupper right portion of the wireless device 200. The first antenna 235may be a cellular antenna, a GSM antenna, a CDMA antenna, a WCDMAantenna, or any other antenna capable of operating using the licensedspectrum. The second antenna 240 may be a WiFi antenna, a GPS antenna,or any other antenna capable of operating using the unlicensed spectrum.The power source 245 (e.g., a battery) supplies power to the componentsor modules shown in FIG. 2.

FIG. 3 is a simplified block diagram of a system 300 having anapplication transmitter 305, a wireless transmitter 310, a wired and/orwireless network 315, a wireless receiver 320, and an applicationreceiver 325 in accordance with various embodiments. The wirelesstransmitter 310 may be a wireless modem with RTCP proxy.

The application transmitter 305 may be used to transmit application data(e.g., a plurality of applications and the information on each of theplurality of applications) to the application receiver 325. Theapplication transmitter 305 may generate a transmission stream fortransmitting the plurality of applications and the information on eachof the plurality of applications to the application receiver 325. Forexample, the application transmitter 305 may generate the plurality ofapplications and the information on each of the plurality ofapplications in the form of an MPEG-2 transmission stream, sequentiallyconverts the MPEG-2 transmission stream into an object carousel, a datacarousel, and a MPEG-2 digital storage media command and control(DSM-CC) message, and broadcasts the DSM-CC message.

The wireless transmitter 310 and/or the wireless receiver 320 can beimplemented in a similar manner to the wireless device 200 shown in FIG.2 or can be implemented using one or more of the components or devicesof the wireless device 200 shown in FIG. 2. Other configurations canalso be used to implement the wireless transmitter 310 and/or thewireless receiver 320. The wireless transmitter 310 and/or the wirelessreceiver 320 may each be a transceiver capable of transmitting andreceiving data and/or signals. The application transmitter 305, thewireless transmitter 310, the wired and/or wireless network 315, thewireless receiver 320, and/or the application receiver 325 areconfigured to execute the algorithms, computations, and methodsdescribed herein. The algorithms, computations, and methods describedherein can be implemented using hardware, software, and combinationsthereof.

The application transmitter 305 and the wireless transmitter 310 may beco-located or located in different areas (i.e., non-co-located).Similarly, the application receiver 325 and the wireless receiver 320may be co-located or located in different areas (i.e., non-co-located).

In various embodiments, the wired-wireless network 315 can include oneor more networks such as a local area network (LAN), a wireless localarea network (WLAN), a wireless fidelity (WiFi) network, an unlicensednetwork (i.e., a network operating in the unlicensed spectrum), alicensed network (i.e., a network operating in the licensed spectrum)and/or a carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance(CSMA/CA) network.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 of providing acommunication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication pathbetween the application transmitter 305 and the application receiver 325in accordance with various embodiments. Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, theapplication transmitter 305 transmits data 304 to the applicationreceiver 325 via the end-to-end communication path (block 405). Data 304may be application data, control data, multimedia data, voice data,video data, picture data, streaming or still video data, web page data,and other types of data. As an example, the end-to-end communicationpath is a wired and/or wireless communication path beginning at theapplication transmitter 305 and ending at the application receiver 325as shown in FIG. 3. In another example, the end-to-end communicationpath includes at least one wireless link with the wireless transmitter310 and the wireless receiver 320 (block 405). In one embodiment, the atleast one wireless link can be the wireless network 315 as shown in FIG.3.

The application transmitter 305 may receive end-to-end feedback from theapplication receiver 325. That is, the application receiver 325 mayprovide or transmit the end-to-end feedback (e.g., an estimation ofvarious parameters such as throughput, jitter, and delay) encapsulatedin a standardized packet format (e.g., RTCP), to the applicationtransmitter 305. Typically, the end-to-end feedback is a feedbackestimate (e.g., a value) representing the combined effect of all thelinks (including the wireless link) along the route from the source(e.g., the application transmitter 305) to the destination (e.g., theapplication receiver 325). The feedback estimate determines the qualityof the end-to-end communication path. In many instances, the wirelesslink is the primary contributor to the end-to-end delay and is thebottleneck link determining the end-to-end throughput.

The wireless transmitter 310 estimates the impact of the wireless linkbased on various parameters (e.g., throughput, jitter, and delay) usinginformation 303 from the wireless receiver 320. For example, theinformation 303 can be a plurality of air-link acknowledgements receivedfrom the wireless receiver 320 or information from the physical layerentity. In one embodiment, the wireless transmitter 310 receives theplurality of air-link acknowledgements from the wireless receiver 320(block 410).

The wireless transmitter 310 generates a first communication qualityfeedback message 301 using the information 303, for example, theplurality of air-link acknowledgements (block 415). The firstcommunication quality feedback message 301 provides feedback regardingthe achieved quality of the end-to-end communication. In one embodiment,the first communication quality feedback message 301 can be referred toas a low-latency local feedback (LLLF).

The first communication quality feedback message 301 may include athroughput component, a jitter component, and/or a delay componentdetermined or generated by the wireless transmitter 310.

The throughput component may be estimated at the wireless transmitter310 (i.e., at the local wireless link) by monitoring the packet queuecorresponding to the application being sent by the applicationtransmitter 305 or by monitoring the plurality of air-link resourcesallocated for delivery of the packets corresponding to the applicationbeing sent by the application transmitter 305. In one embodiment, thethroughput component may be estimated in conjunction with thecorresponding throughput parameter from the end-to-end feedback, where,for example, the minimum of the locally measured throughput and thethroughput from the end-to-end feedback is reported by or in the firstcommunication quality feedback message 301 (i.e., the LLLF).

In one embodiment, the throughput component can be calculated ordetermined as described in the following example. The applicationtransmitter 305 generates data 304 at a rate R, and requests service ata rate R from the wireless transmitter 310. The system 300 responds byservicing the data 304 at a rate R′. The value of R′ can be estimated bythe wireless transmitter 310. One estimate for the value of R′ is therate at which the packets corresponding to the application are removedor sent from the queue at the wireless transmitter 310. If the system100 includes an explicit allocation of the plurality of air-linkresources for transmission of the data 304, then the throughput R′ canbe estimated by monitoring using the wireless transmitter 310, theresource allocation. The above estimate of the throughput component canbe utilized when the wireless link is the bottleneck link along theroute from the source to the destination.

If the end-to-end feedback estimate is available, then the wirelesstransmitter 310 can monitor the throughput calculation R″ from theend-to-end feedback estimate. If the throughput calculation R″ is lessthan the throughput estimate R′ estimated by the wireless transmitter310, then the first communication quality feedback message 301 can choseto report or transmit the throughput calculation R″ to the applicationtransmitter 305 or not provide any message or feedback to theapplication transmitter 305. The above estimate of the throughputcomponent can be utilized when the wireless link is not necessarily thebottleneck link along the route from the source to the destination.

The jitter component may be estimated in conjunction with thecorresponding jitter parameter from the end-to-end feedback, where, forexample, the jitter parameter from the end-to-end feedback is reportedby or in the first communication quality feedback message 301 (i.e., theLLLF) if the jitter parameter is higher than that measured locally atthe wireless transmitter 310.

In one embodiment, the jitter component can be calculated or determinedas described in the following example. The jitter component can includethe jitter experienced due to the transmission at the wirelesstransmitter 310 and the jitter experienced from the end-to-end feedback(i.e., feedback throughout the system 300). The jitter experienced dueto the transmission at the wireless transmitter 310 can be measured bymonitoring the packet queue corresponding to the traffic originatingfrom the application being sent by the application transmitter 305. Ifthe jitter experienced from the end-to-end feedback is higher than thejitter experienced due to the transmission at the wireless transmitter310, then the first communication quality feedback message 301 reportsor transmits the higher jitter value to the application transmitter 305or no message or feedback is generated or reported to the applicationtransmitter 305.

The delay component may be estimated in conjunction with thecorresponding delay parameter from the end-to-end feedback, where, forexample, the delay parameter from the end-to-end feedback is used toestimate the component of the delay associated with the network 315,which is then added to the delay measured locally at the wirelesstransmitter 310, and reported by or in the first communication qualityfeedback message 301 (i.e., the LLLF).

In one embodiment, the delay component can be calculated or determinedas described in the following example. The delay component (i.e., theround-trip delay experienced by the packets) can include the delayexperienced due to the transmission at the wireless transmitter 310 andthe delay experienced from the end-to-end feedback (i.e., feedbackthroughout the system 300). The delay experienced due to thetransmission at the wireless transmitter 310 can be measured bymonitoring the packet queue corresponding to the traffic originatingfrom the application being sent by the application transmitter 305. Ifthe end-to-end feedback is not available, then the wireless transmitter310 adds a fixed offset to the delay measured by the wirelesstransmitter 310. In one embodiment, the fixed offset includes thenetwork delay. If the end-to-end feedback is available, then thewireless transmitter 310 estimates the network delay using theround-trip delay included in the end-to-end feedback and the delaymeasured by the wireless transmitter 310. The wireless transmitter 310can generate the delay component (i.e., a round-trip delay estimate) byadding the network delay estimated at the slower time scale and thewireless transmission delay estimated at the faster time scale. Thefirst communication quality feedback message 301 reports or transmitsthe delay component value to the application transmitter 305 or nomessage or feedback is generated or reported to the applicationtransmitter 305.

The wireless transmitter 310 may receive a second communication qualityfeedback message 302 from the application receiver 325 (block 420). Thesecond communication quality feedback message 302 may be the end-to-endfeedback estimate. In one embodiment, the second communication qualityfeedback message 302 is not transmitted from the application receiver325 to the wireless transmitter 310.

The wireless transmitter 310 transmits the first and/or the secondcommunication quality feedback message 301 and/or 302 to the applicationtransmitter 305 in a standardized format (block 425). The firstcommunication quality feedback message 301 from the wireless transmitter310 is transmitted to the application transmitter 305 more frequentlythan the second communication quality feedback message 302 from theapplication receiver 325. Hence, the application transmitter 305receives more frequent feedback estimates on the wireless link byobtaining faster and more frequent feedback via the first communicationquality feedback message 301 from the wireless transmitter 310. Theapplication transmitter 305 receives the first communication qualityfeedback message 301 with a smaller delay than with the end-to-endfeedback estimate. The first communication quality feedback message 301advantageously allows the application transmitter 305 to adjust or adaptits encoded rate faster to changes in the wireless link or medium.Furthermore, in one embodiment, other applications are not aware of thewireless transmitter 310 generating and delivering the firstcommunication quality feedback message 301 to the applicationtransmitter 305, thus allowing existing applications to make use of thisinvention. The application transmitter 305 can receive both the firstand the second communication quality feedback messages 301 and 302, orcan only receive the first communication quality feedback message 301.

The first and/or the second communication quality feedback message 301and/or 302 may be encapsulated into a standardized packet format. In oneembodiment, the standardized format is RTCP. The standardized formatshould be a format that is recognized by the application transmitter 305and/or the same format used by the end-to-end feedback estimate ormechanism.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary components for theapparatus 500 and the means for apparatus 500 for providing acommunication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication pathbetween the application transmitter and the application receiver inaccordance with various embodiments. The apparatus 500 may include amodule 505 for transmitting data 304 from an application transmitter 305to an application receiver 325 via an end-to-end communication path. Theend-to-end communication path may have at least one wireless link with awireless transmitter 310 and a wireless receiver 320. The apparatus mayalso include a module 510 for receiving a plurality of air-linkacknowledgements 303 from the wireless receiver 320, a module 515 forgenerating a first communication quality feedback message 301 using theplurality of air-link acknowledgements, a module 520 for receiving asecond communication quality feedback message 302 from the applicationreceiver 325, and a module 525 for transmitting the first and/or thesecond communication quality feedback message 301 and/or 302 to theapplication transmitter 305 in a standardized format.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrativelogical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithms described inconnection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented aselectronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. Toillustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, variousillustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithms havebeen described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whethersuch functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends uponthe particular application and design constraints imposed on the overallsystem. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality invarying ways for each particular application, but such implementationdecisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from thescope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits describedin connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implementedor performed with a general purpose processing device, a digital signalprocessing device (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmablelogic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardwarecomponents, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functionsdescribed herein. A general purpose processing device may be amicroprocessing device, but in the alternative, the processing devicemay be any conventional processing device, processing device,microprocessing device, or state machine. A processing device may alsobe implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., acombination of a DSP and a microprocessing device, a plurality ofmicroprocessing devices, one or more microprocessing devices inconjunction with a DSP core or any other such configuration.

The apparatus, methods or algorithms described in connection with theembodiments disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware,software, or combination thereof. In software the methods or algorithmsmay be embodied in one or more instructions that may be executed by aprocessing device. The instructions may reside in RAM memory, flashmemory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, aremovable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known inthe art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processing devicesuch the processing device can read information from, and writeinformation to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storagemedium may be integral to the processing device. The processing deviceand the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in auser terminal. In the alternative, the processing device and the storagemedium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentdisclosure. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom its spirit or essential characteristics. The described embodimentsare to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and notrestrictive and the scope of the invention is, therefore, indicated bythe appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. Allchanges which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of theclaims are to be embraced within their scope.

1. A method of providing a communication quality feedback of anend-to-end communication path between an application transmitter and anapplication receiver, the method comprising: transmitting data from theapplication transmitter to the application receiver via the end-to-endcommunication path, the end-to-end communication path having at leastone wireless link with a wireless transmitter and a wireless receiver;generating, at the wireless transmitter, a first communication qualityfeedback message; and transmitting the first communication qualityfeedback message from the wireless transmitter to the applicationtransmitter in a standardized format.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinthe standardized format is a real-time control protocol.
 3. The methodof claim 1 wherein the wireless transmitter generates the firstcommunication quality feedback message by combining a plurality ofair-link acknowledgements from the wireless receiver and a secondcommunication quality feedback message from the application receiver. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein the first communication quality feedbackmessage from the wireless transmitter is generated more frequently thanthe second communication quality feedback message from the applicationreceiver.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first communicationquality feedback message includes at least one of a throughputcomponent, a jitter component, or a delay component.
 6. The method ofclaim 5 wherein the throughput component is estimated at the wirelesstransmitter by monitoring a packet queue corresponding to the data beingtransmitted by the application transmitter.
 7. The method of claim 5wherein the throughput component is estimated at the wirelesstransmitter by monitoring a plurality of air-link resources allocatedfor delivery of packets corresponding to the data being transmitted bythe application transmitter.
 8. The method of claim 5 wherein thethroughput component is estimated in conjunction with a correspondingthroughput parameter from the end-to-end communication path.
 9. Themethod of claim 5 wherein the jitter component is estimated inconjunction with a corresponding jitter parameter from the end-to-endcommunication path.
 10. The method of claim 5 wherein the delaycomponent is estimated in conjunction with a corresponding delayparameter from the end-to-end communication path.
 11. An apparatus forproviding a communication quality feedback of an end-to-endcommunication path to an application receiver, the apparatus comprising:an application transmitter for transmitting data to the applicationreceiver via the end-to-end communication path, the end-to-endcommunication path having at least one wireless link with a wirelesstransmitter and a wireless receiver, the wireless transmitter configuredto generate a first communication quality feedback message and transmitthe first communication quality feedback message from the wirelesstransmitter to the application transmitter in a standardized format. 12.The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the standardized format is a real-timecontrol protocol.
 13. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the wirelesstransmitter generates the first communication quality feedback messageby combining a plurality of air-link acknowledgements from the wirelessreceiver and a second communication quality feedback message from theapplication receiver.
 14. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the firstcommunication quality feedback message from the wireless transmitter isgenerated more frequently than the second communication quality feedbackmessage from the application receiver.
 15. The apparatus of claim 11wherein the first communication quality feedback message includes atleast one of a throughput component, a jitter component, or a delaycomponent.
 16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the throughputcomponent is estimated at the wireless transmitter by monitoring apacket queue corresponding to the data being transmitted by theapplication transmitter.
 17. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein thethroughput component is estimated at the wireless transmitter bymonitoring a plurality of air-link resources allocated for delivery ofpackets corresponding to the data being transmitted by the applicationtransmitter.
 18. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the throughputcomponent is estimated in conjunction with a corresponding throughputparameter from the end-to-end communication path.
 19. The apparatus ofclaim 15 wherein the jitter component is estimated in conjunction with acorresponding jitter parameter from the end-to-end communication path.20. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the delay component is estimatedin conjunction with a corresponding delay parameter from the end-to-endcommunication path.
 21. An apparatus for providing a communicationquality feedback of an end-to-end communication path to an applicationreceiver, the apparatus comprising: means for transmitting data to theapplication receiver via the end-to-end communication path, theend-to-end communication path having at least one wireless link with awireless transmitter and a wireless receiver, the wireless transmitterconfigured to generate a first communication quality feedback messageand transmit the first communication quality feedback message from thewireless transmitter to the application transmitter in a standardizedformat.
 22. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein the standardized format isa real-time control protocol.
 23. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein thewireless transmitter generates the first communication quality feedbackmessage by combining a plurality of air-link acknowledgements from thewireless receiver and a second communication quality feedback messagefrom the application receiver.
 24. The apparatus of claim 21 wherein thefirst communication quality feedback message from the wirelesstransmitter is generated more frequently than the second communicationquality feedback message from the application receiver.
 25. Theapparatus of claim 21 wherein the first communication quality feedbackmessage includes at least one of a throughput component, a jittercomponent, or a delay component.
 26. The apparatus of claim 25 whereinthe throughput component is estimated at the wireless transmitter bymonitoring a packet queue corresponding to the data being transmitted bythe application transmitter.
 27. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein thethroughput component is estimated at the wireless transmitter bymonitoring a plurality of air-link resources allocated for delivery ofpackets corresponding to the data being transmitted by the applicationtransmitter.
 28. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the throughputcomponent is estimated in conjunction with a corresponding throughputparameter from the end-to-end communication path.
 29. The apparatus ofclaim 25 wherein the jitter component is estimated in conjunction with acorresponding jitter parameter from the end-to-end communication path.30. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the delay component is estimatedin conjunction with a corresponding delay parameter from the end-to-endcommunication path.
 31. A machine readable medium embodying machineexecutable instructions to implement a method of providing acommunication quality feedback of an end-to-end communication pathbetween an application transmitter and an application receiver, themethod comprising: transmitting data from the application transmitter tothe application receiver via the end-to-end communication path, theend-to-end communication path having at least one wireless link with awireless transmitter and a wireless receiver; generating, at thewireless transmitter, a first communication quality feedback message;and transmitting the first communication quality feedback message fromthe wireless transmitter to the application transmitter in astandardized format.
 32. The method of claim 31 wherein the standardizedformat is a real-time control protocol.
 33. The method of claim 31wherein the wireless transmitter generates the first communicationquality feedback message by combining a plurality of air-linkacknowledgements from the wireless receiver and a second communicationquality feedback message from the application receiver.
 34. The methodof claim 31 wherein the first communication quality feedback messagefrom the wireless transmitter is generated more frequently than thesecond communication quality feedback message from the applicationreceiver.
 35. The method of claim 31 wherein the first communicationquality feedback message includes at least one of a throughputcomponent, a jitter component, or a delay component.
 36. The method ofclaim 35 wherein the throughput component is estimated at the wirelesstransmitter by monitoring a packet queue corresponding to the data beingtransmitted by the application transmitter.
 37. The method of claim 35wherein the throughput component is estimated at the wirelesstransmitter by monitoring a plurality of air-link resources allocatedfor delivery of packets corresponding to the data being transmitted bythe application transmitter.
 38. The method of claim 35 wherein thethroughput component is estimated in conjunction with a correspondingthroughput parameter from the end-to-end communication path.
 39. Themethod of claim 35 wherein the jitter component is estimated inconjunction with a corresponding jitter parameter from the end-to-endcommunication path.
 40. The method of claim 35 wherein the delaycomponent is estimated in conjunction with a corresponding delayparameter from the end-to-end communication path.